Crawfish Etouffee and Crawfish Stock

 Crawfish Etouffee 

It all started with buying five pounds of crawfish from my work, it is rare that we get in crawfish, and since crawfish is my favourite food, I didn't want to pass up the chance, so for $25 I bought a five pound bag of frozen cooked crawfish from my work.  Obviously the best thing to do with 5 lbs of craw fish is to toss them in a pot of boiling water with 1 lemon quartered and squeezed and tossed in the pot, 1 onion quartered, 2 jalapenos sliced, some peppers sliced, and some celery cut into large chunks and bring that all to a nice boil.  The crawfish were already seasoned, so tossed those in too, and boiled for about 5-8 min. then drained and put onto a large platter, reserving some of the juices from boiling for making a stock.   The thought was that we wouldn't eat the whole 5 lbs of crawfish in one sitting (the idea was wrong mind you), and that we would use the leftovers for a crawfish etouffee.   Well there were no leftovers, that's okay, because I know that you can get crawfish tail meat at Wal-Mart, so it wasn't a big deal. 

 Crawfish Stock:
Ingredients:
5lb of Crawfish shells
2 Japenos
1 Bell Pepper
1 Onion
3 stalks of celery
1 Lemon 
Enough water to cover the shells
Seasonings from the package of frozen crawfish, if you use fresh or unseasoned ones, you can use Old Bay and either Creole or Cajun seasonings.

Directions:
1. Fill a pot of water and bring it to a boil.  Add in 2 sliced jalapenos, 1 chopped bell pepper, 1 quartered onion, 3 chopped stalks of celery, 1 lemon quartered and squeezed into the pot (also throw in the lemon after squeezing it). 

2. Boil for about 5-8 minutes.  drain the water into a very large mixing bowl and eat the crawfish tossing the shells back into the pot. 

3. When your crawfish feast is over, keep any leftover tail meat (if there is any), dump back in the large mixing bowl of cooking fluids (It should be enough to just cover the crawfish shells).  Then bring to a rolling boil.  

4. Cover the pot and simmer for 1.5 hours.  Stirring occasionally.

5. Remove the lid and continue to simmer for 2.5 hours.  Stirring occasionally.  Should reduce significantly.

6. Strain through a colander, into a large mixing bowl.  Then strain through a fine mesh colander into a large measuring bowl.  I got about 5 cups of stock.  You will need 4 cups of stock for the Etouffee recipe.  pour into a container with a lid, and refrigerate overnight.

Crawfish Etouffee Recipe:
Ingredients:
1 Stick Of Butter (8oz of Olive Oil mixed with a little sea salt if you are dairy free)
3 large stalks of celery diced
1 White Onion diced
1 Red Bell Pepper diced 
1/4 of a lemon (squeeze out just the juice)
4 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 cup of flour
A few tablespoons of cajun seasoning
1 cup of cream (Unsweetened Coconut cream if making it dairy free)
1 lb of crawfish tail meat (more if desire, you can also add shrimp if you desire)
4 cups of Crawfish Stock (see above recipe)
Parsley for garnish.
2 Cups of white rice (prepared according to your rice cooker or packaged directions)

*I didn't add Old Bay Seasoning, because the stock is already well seasoned.  You can also add in Creole seasoning, or use Creole seasoning instead of Cajun seasoning.  Do be careful if you are dairy free because some Creole seasonings are manufactured on machinery that process dairy products, I found this out while shopping for seasonings, my roommate is allergic to dairy.

Directions: 
(Start 2 cups of Rice and cook according to package or your rice cooker)
1. Melt the butter in a large deep pan or very wide pot (if using olive oil heat the oil) over a med high heat.

2.  When the butter/oil is hot, make a roux: start whisking in the flower (slowly, and whisking briskly to avoid any lumps.   Continue whisking until it starts to turn a golden brown colour

3. When it gets a nice golden brown colour, add in the "Trinity": diced celery, diced onion, diced bell pepper, and saute in the roux until the veggies are softened, stirring frequently, don't let anything burn.

4. Now add the seasoning and the garlic, and saute for for about 30 seconds

5. Slowly add in the Crawfish Stock (you can use chicken stock), constantly stirring, this should form a thick gravy, don't add to fast, and stop when you have a nice thick gravy.  Don't stop stirring as you do this. 

6. Stir in the crawfish meat, the cream, and the lemon juice, again: Slowly and constantly stir, to keep it a nice thick gravy. 

7. Simmer on low for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, to really let those flavours mingle, if it ever gets too thick, add a little more stock (very slowly, it is hard to fix if it gets runny, think of a very thick gravy, not a soup).  

9. Serve over hot rice, and garnish with parsley (fresh is ideal, but dried works if that is what you have). I served it with some homemade bread to dip with, and it was amazing.